TR Custom Parts/GN1 Intercooler

[GRAY86T-TYPE]

Does anybody have good or bads on these intercoolers? I have the 4" Big Boy they sell and the car won't run at less than 190 degrees with an aluminum radiator. Does anybody run one with no heating issues. The other car I have has an ATR Intercooler and runs at 170 on a hot day. I was thinking maybe I should buy the one of the other ones. What do you guys run, and what temperatures do you see?

 

[T- Type Tim]

i just bought the 3" core GN1 to replace a powerstroke, will report with results soon

 

[Squid4life]

Where you at? Ambient temps will make a diff as well.

 

[TR Custom Parts]

Don't care what radiator you have, when you put a front mount IC on the car it is going to run hotter. I previously ran one of our stock location IC's and went to the SE Intercooler we sell and saw an increase of 10-15 degrees. The BB IC is another 1" thicker so it is going to run even hotter. Bottom line, you are blocking air flow with a front mount.

I am still running the stock fan and usually runs around 170 - 175 on the highway. This is in 75-80 degree weather. No if you are driving around in 100 weather I don't expect to still be running that cool. Not sure why everyone freaks when the temp reaches 200 anyway.

I DO think you stand a better chance of cooler temps if you run a front mount that has a core that takes up most of the grille. The end tanks on smaller front mounts will block air flow to some extent.

Where are you taking the temps from? I know my scanmaster and VDO water temp gauge disagree by about 10 degrees. I put my money on the SM for accurate temps.

 

[yullose]

It's all about air flow and how it's directed thru the radiator or around it.

I like to help direct airflow THRU the radiator myself.

Make up a small scoop and connect the two airdams together under the car.
It makes a huge difference going down the highway. It allows air to shoot directly into the radiator without the FMIC blocking it's path.

Intercooler w/o lower air dam

Air dam installed

 

[joe_schindler]

At highway speed and zero boost; the intercooler should not be adding any heat to the air to speak of. It can cause a restriction to the radiator if you install it that way.

As yullose said; you have to have airflow.

 

[GRAY86T-TYPE]

Don't care what radiator you have, when you put a front mount IC on the car it is going to run hotter. I previously ran one of our stock location IC's and went to the SE Intercooler we sell and saw an increase of 10-15 degrees. The BB IC is another 1" thicker so it is going to run even hotter. Bottom line, you are blocking air flow with a front mount.

I am still running the stock fan and usually runs around 170 - 175 on the highway. This is in 75-80 degree weather. No if you are driving around in 100 weather I don't expect to still be running that cool. Not sure why everyone freaks when the temp reaches 200 anyway.

I DO think you stand a better chance of cooler temps if you run a front mount that has a core that takes up most of the grille. The end tanks on smaller front mounts will block air flow to some extent.

Where are you taking the temps from? I know my scanmaster and VDO water temp gauge disagree by about 10 degrees. I put my money on the SM for accurate temps.

Mark the radiator I am running is from you. I am taking the temp from the scanmaster, although my autometer gauge is the same numbers. I understand the fact that it is 4 inches. My other car has an ATR intercooler with the stock radiator, with 170,000+ miles and its original. Never runs over 175. These cars should not be running close to 200 degrees, oh and also the temps outside were around 72-75 degrees, not that hot so it shouldn't be running these temp.

 

[TR Custom Parts]

I know whose radiator you are running. That wasn't my point. The ATR IC is probably no where as thick as the BB IC. Like previously said, all about air flow.

Taking my GN out to a cruise night and going to see if I can get stuck in traffic in the 75-80 degree weather we have and see what temps I run.

 

[GRAY86T-TYPE]

I know whose radiator you are running. That wasn't my point. The ATR IC is probably no where as thick as the BB IC. Like previously said, all about air flow.

Taking my GN out to a cruise night and going to see if I can get stuck in traffic in the 75-80 degree weather we have and see what temps I run.

I get the overall picture, thanks for your quick reply. Let me know what happens.

 

[yullose]

In addition to the scoop suggestion above, there are a few little tips & tweaks that always help cooling issues.

Blocking the coolant bypass and gutting a thermostat will help a bunch too.

When you have all those obstructions packed in front of the radiator, it sure makes it difficult to do it's job.
Air has to pass thru a 4" IC and then another 1" AC condenser before it even gets to the radiator.

Anything you can do to improve and assist in cooling is gonna help. This is just the nature of the beast when running a front mount. Some cars will run hotter than others.
I noticed it most when buzzing down the highway with a 3-speed trans. That's where the scoop mod made the most difference.

 

[BlackBandit]

...These cars should not be running close to 200 degrees...

I agree that we often don't want our cars running that hot because of detonation issues and such but it absolutely will not hurt your car to run at 200-210. It would probably even be fine at 220, you just can't tune it as aggressively.

As a side note (and I'm sure I probably missed it in another thread) do you have the piece that goes between the bumper and the core support that blocks that opening?

 

[sabersaw30]

It's all about air flow and how it's directed thru the radiator or around it.

I like to help direct airflow THRU the radiator myself.

Make up a small scoop and connect the two airdams together under the car.
It makes a huge difference going down the highway. It allows air to shoot directly into the radiator without the FMIC blocking it's path.

Intercooler w/o lower air dam

Air dam installed

Air scoop and gbody dual fans is the ticket.I went from a single fan fbody rad. at 200 degrees driving down the road.to 165 highest i've seen it has been 167 on a hot florida day.Scoop going to the dual fans is amazing.

 

[TR Custom Parts]

Update on run yesterday, put about 60 miles on. Route I took to the cruise I went to was on basic two lane roads for most of the way with a short run on an interstate. Most I saw for temps was around 180. Outside temps were about 75 or so.

On the way home, different route, with more interstate miles and a couple of over 100mph bursts and same thing, temps were fine.

I also run a GNX style trans cooler from GM that mounts between the condensor and radiator, forgot to mention that.

Recorded both trips with my Powerlogger.

 

[The_Six]

I have a PTE FMIC with the F-body radiator and stock fan yesterday I drove it 40 miles some in traffic some high way with AC on . My temps were from 190 to 210. I had thought abought changing from the PTE to one of marks super extremes to see if if they did a better job at letting air flow through them.

 

[Mike Licht]

180 - 200 water temp is fine, in fact if you have ALKY your car will likly run better at 180 than 160

 

[JDSfastGN]

180 at highway speeds in 75* weather is not good imo. Yes as mike stated the car might run well at that temp, but outside temp and coolant temp are pretty linear. If you are running 180 in 75* heat its gonna run 200 in 95* heat. and 210-220 with the AC on just like my car was with that same aluminum radiator. 180 in 75* heat is in no way a testament to the radiator. My car was 177-180 yesterday in 100* heat with my 4 row stocker that I had to reinstall after the disappointment of the aluminum unit. I got on it 3-4 times and it went to 190ish and then came back down to 178ish. With the aluminum radiator ya'll sell I was seeing 195-205 just cruising. If I got on it, it couldnt get rid of the heat, even after 5-10 mins of just cruising.

 

[TR Custom Parts]

Didn't say it was constantly running at 180, said that was the most I saw. I will zip the powerlogger files and put em up here so you can see my whole trip if you want. My fan doesn't come on until 175, temps normally are 170 - 175. There are so many variables it is hard to blame everything on the radiator.

 

[JDSfastGN]

Mark there are no more variables when I did nothing but swap radiators and saw a substantial improvement. I have installed a new flow cooler water pump, high flow thermostat, etc.... there are no other options. I tried both radiators without oil coolers, and the biggest difference I saw was switching back to the old unit. All my numbers are via the power logger and confirmed by my gauge. Your data or claims about the radiator are unfounded because you have not put that radiator through anything compared to what we go through down south. I don't expect you to drive it to arizona and put it to a torture test either, but I do hope you are listening and will listen to customers when more complaints come in from guys down south that actually deal with the heat. The cookie cutter answers of "oh 200 is fine" and "there are too many variables" etc... just make it come off like a programed response that there is no way that your product is at fault. I did everything possible to help this radiator cool and none of it worked. I don't see why its too much to ask to run 190-200 with the AC on in the summer heat like almost every vehicle on the road today. I can't stand by idle any more and not tell people of my experience with this radiator. I don't want to bad mouth you or products you sell but I don't want people to waste their money either. Im sure I will get jumped on for making this post but I don't care, I have been a contributing member since before the board crashed and have never posted an issue with a product. I have a friend having similar issues so its not just an issue with "mine"

 

[Antagon]

Bummer to hear, sounds like another Buick case of "works, good, but not good enough". Much like the people swearing stock IC's and stock turbo's are good to low 11's. Possible, but MUCH easier with better parts.

Have you thought about an air box kit? It boxes off from the front of the radiator to the back of the grill, directing 100% of the air thru the core.

 

[yullose]

Well.... I'd like to hear about all the other people having problems with aluminum radiators.

I've run them for years in all kinds of different applications... including a couple Buicks. In every situation, the aluminum radiator outperforms a stock unit... by a long shot.

The only time I've had cooling issues was when I overlooked something, didn't pay attention to the air flow thru the radiator, had leaking head gaskets, or a clogged radiator...

I sometimes wonder if the folks buying aluminum radiators have underlying or unknown issues with the cooling system and expect the aluminum radiator to solve all problems.

I had cooling problems too with an aluminum radiator in my last GN. It was a hi-dollar unit made by the company that supplied our Nascar team radiators.
Thing is... it had NOTHING to do with the radiator.

Once I made sure to direct the air thru the radiator the problems were solved.

Another issue often overlooked is the voltage supply to the fan(s). Fans draw ALOT of current and require heavy gage wire and the use of good relays. Crappy wire, bad grounds or burnt contacts in the relays will cause overheating too...